HC Deb 25 November 1988 vol 142 cc45-6W
Mr. Hinchliffe

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many of the areas proposed by the Government for inclusion in the list of objective 2 areas have a lower unemployment rate than the Wakefield metropolitan district.

Mr. Maude

Unemployment data are compiled for travel-to-work areas and are therefore not available for Wakefield metropolitan district in a form directly comparable with those for other areas.

Mr. Hinchliffe

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many areas proposed by the Government for inclusion in the list of objective 2 areas include or belong to travel-to-work areas which have a lower unemployment rate than Wakefield and Dewsbury.

Mr. Lofthouse

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many areas proposed by the Government for inclusion in the list of objective 2 areas include or belong to travel-to-work areas which have a lower unemployment rate than Pontefract and Castleford.

Mr. Maude

The areas proposed by the Government to the European Comission for inclusion in the list to qualify for the European structural funds under objective 2 include Wakefield city metropolitan district as one of the "most seriously affected" parts of West Yorkshire. The district contains the whole of Wakefield and Dewsbury travel-to-work area and part of Pontefract and Castleford travel-to-work area.

The unemployment criterion for objective 2 regions is an average of three year's figures and is to be applied variously at county and lower level, according to the case. There are also other criteria, of equal importance.

There are 22 travel-to-work areas concerned which at present have a lower unemployment rate than Wakefield and Dewsbury, and a further 19 with a rate lower than Pontefract and Castleford.

Mr. Hinchliffe

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many intermediate areas in the United Kingdom have a lower unemployment rate than the Wakefield and Dewsbury travel-to-work area.

Mr. Lofthouse

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many intermediate areas in the United Kingdom have a lower unemployment rate than the Pontefract and Castleford travel-to-work area.

Mr. Maude

There are at present 17 intermediate areas with a lower monthly unemployment rate than the Wakefield and Dewsbury travel-to-work area, and a further 18 with a lower rate than the Castleford and Pontefract travel-to-work area. These figures are based on the unadjusted unemployment rates for October 19881. The unemployment rate was only one factor considered when the assisted areas map was drawn up in 1984.

1 The rates were calculated on the basis of the number of unemployed claimants expressed as a percentage of employees in employment and the unemployed for each travel-to-work area in Great Britain on 13 October 1988.